This summer our stake had organized an awesome High Adventure camp for our young men. I was really excited for our boys to go to it since it was at this place. Pretty sweet. Until I found out it was $280 for each boy to go. (Definitely not something my kids could afford). Also, it was only for boys older than 16. The rest of the boys would go to a merit badge camp (also $280).
Needless to say, we didn't raise the money. (We would have needed $1960 to pay for all 7 boys) Our stake was great at helping us pay for it, and even offered to pay $100 per boy, but even then we couldn't make enough money. We first tried to do oil changes for members of the branch. I thought it was a great idea. Someone that everyone needs and the boys can learn a skill. Apparently it was just too practical. People signed up and didn't show up the day we had the fundraiser, only 7 or 8 people signed up, and it basically netted us about $200.
I learned this year that people want to buy very over-priced meaningless crap for fundraisers. I don't understand why, but Sydney and the Young Women made caramel pretzels and chocolate covered strawberries and sold them to people for like $15 bucks. Pretty much every member bought one, and they made like $500. I've learned my lesson. A fundraiser for something practical that you might actually use, is going to be an unsuccessful one.
Anyway, we went on a campout. To Lake Winnipesaukee.
Ok. It's actually called Smith Mountain Lake, but that's where "What About Bob?" was filmed. It's easily one of my family's favorite films. So stinking funny, and the lake did not disappoint.
My car was packed to the gills with boys and gear. We literally had people pointing at us as we drove down the highway. :)
The boys campsite.
The leader's campsite.
Eric!
The small pond at Camp Karma, the campground where we stayed, about 10 miles from the lake. Tay and Eli were catching fish like crazy.
I don't know why Eli does this face in every picture I've ever seen of him. If you need a reference....HERE. He's really a happy kid in person.
Chinese Checkers with Eric (guy in green shirt), one of the camp owners. They were nice enough to let us use their indoor game area that they are building. It was raining cats and dogs out and we were grateful for the shelter.
Fishing and swimming at the lake after our grueling 1.5 mile hike.
My favorite picture of the camp. It is Malik.
Dinner on Thursday night. Best tin-foil dinners ever. Sorry mom. The secret? Bacon!!!
Naturally, Tay was the camp cook.
Yusu absolutely ate this entire plate of food.
On Saturday, we packed up camp early and headed to the lake. We rented an open deck boat and spent the whole day tubing and having a blast. The lake was beautiful, and despite the insane rain all the night before, the entire day was beautiful.
My phone was constantly dying, so I only got a few pictures. I think it's time to get a new camera. I broke our last one someone. Surprising, since it was waterproof and "shockproof." Although I did smash it up against some rocks while it was in my pocket while riding the rapids of the James River.
All in all it was a great camp. We had all 7 of our boys come. It was all their first time ever being on a boat in a lake. First time tubing. It was Malik's first time camping. It was everyone else's second time, since we took them to the Father and Son campout a few months ago.
How did we pay for all this you might ask? Well, we had the $200 from oil changes, and if you remember from a previous post, a lot of clothing and shoes were donated to my young men a few months back. (You can see the shoes at the bottom of this post.) Well, I made about $280 selling those shoes on Ebay. Amazing. Hooray for technology.
The rest of the money was donated in the form of old medical textbooks donated by Nat Mann (one of my counselors) and Spencer Hardenbrook (a hilarious and generous medical student). I've probably sold about $150 worth on Amazon, and I've probably got about 50 more to sell.
Hooray for awesome people. The world needs more of them. I wish crappy people would spontaneously combust.
3 comments:
Nice! Our ward had a dessert auction for Girls Camp. I donated two cheesecakes. The oreo supreme one went for $160, the mango orange peach went for $90! Waaaay more than I expected. Apparently at the end, they raised about $1800!
Gulp! We were those people who forgot to shoe up which really was a bummer because we were more than thrilled to pay for an oil change. I guess I am just practically minded like you.
I wish the same for crappy people but I sure love you.
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